In 1857, German chemist H Buff discovered silane, and for the next 100 years or so, silane was only studied by a few researchers in the laboratory, without any use. With the rise of semiconductor technology in the 1950s, people began to consider the advantages of silane, and silane began to be used in the electronics industry. In the 1980s, the application of silane changed significantly. With the advent of a number of new technologies or the success of using silane to develop new products, the amount of silane used has increased dramatically. Every year thousands of tons of silane are processed in factories into ultra-pure semiconductor silicon, and hundreds of tons of gases are used to make a wide variety of new materials and devices. Considering that most devices in these applications consume only milligrams or even micrograms of gas each, and that films made of silane are on the order of micrometers thick, this is not a small number. In the 1990s, a greater number of new functional devices came out, including large-scale development of ultra-high speed, super-large capacity computer chips, high-definition flat panel displays, high efficiency and low cost solar cells, high-performance ceramic engine parts, a variety of sensors with specific functions, etc., more updated devices are emerging, these devices need to use siane.

The reason why silane is widely used and more and more important in high technology is related to its characteristics, but also to the special needs of modern high technology. Through thermal decomposition or chemical reaction with other gases, a series of silicon-containing substances such as monocrystalline silicon, polycrystalline silicon, amorphous silicon, metal silicide, silicon nitride, silicon carbide and silicon oxide can be prepared from silane. Silane is used to achieve the highest purity, the finest control (up to atomic size) and the most flexible chemical reactions. Therefore, various silicon-containing materials can be made into complex and fine structures according to various needs, which is the basic condition required by modern materials and devices with various special functions.

The earliest practical application of silane and the largest application at present is as an intermediate product for the production of high purity silicon, generally known as silane method. Traditionally, the main method for producing high purity silicon is trichlorosilane (Siemens method).

Another application of silane is amorphous semiconductor, amorphous silicon. Compared with single crystal semiconductor materials, amorphous silicon is characterized by easy to form extremely thin (thickness of about 10nm) large area devices, the substrate can be glass, stainless steel, even plastic, the surface can be flat or curved, so it can be made into a variety of excellent performance devices.

Silane has become the most important special gas used in semiconductor microelectronics technology, which is used in the preparation of various microelectronic films, including single crystal film, microcrystal, polycrystal, silicon oxide, silicon nitride, metal silicide, etc. The microelectronic applications of silane are still developing in depth: low temperature epitaxy, selective epitaxy, heterogeneous epitaxy. Not only for silicon devices and silicon integrated circuits, but also for compound semiconductor devices (gallium arsenide, silicon carbide, etc.). It is also used in the preparation of superlattice quantum well materials. It can be said that almost all modern advanced integrated circuit production lines need silane. The purity of silane is greatly related to the performance and yield of devices. More advanced devices require higher purity silane (including ethyl silane and propylene silane).

The application of silane as silicon-containing films and coatings has expanded from the traditional microelectronics industry to various fields such as steel, machinery, chemical industry and optics. Silica-containing coating can increase the high temperature oxidation resistance of ordinary steel to more than 100,000 times, and also greatly improve the high temperature chemical stability of other metals, significantly enhance the corrosion resistance of internal combustion engine blades, greatly improve the bond strength between various materials and parts, prolong the life of automobile engine parts, and also change the reflection and transmission performance of glass. Thus, remarkable energy saving and decorative effect can be obtained. In the process of float glass production, silane is used to coat a reflective layer on the glass surface, which has strong adhesion and does not fade under long-term sunlight, and the light transmittance is only 1/3 of that of ordinary glass. Large area polycrystalline silicon cells (BSNSC) coated with silicon nitride have achieved high efficiency of 15. 7%. The application of silane vapor deposition technology to manufacture various silicon-containing films in high technology is increasing day by day.

Another potential application of silane is the manufacture of high performance ceramic engine parts, especially the use of silane to produce silicide (Si3N4, SiC, etc.) micro-powder technology is increasingly valued. The United States, Japan and other countries are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to develop silicon, silicon nitride and silicon carbide micro-powder manufacturing high temperature resistance, high strength, high chemical stability of ceramics. The micropowder prepared by the method of silane gas reaction has the highest purity and fine and uniform particle size, which can greatly improve the performance of ceramic parts. Its application field is very wide, such as the valve of automobile engine and turbine turbocharger rotor has been practical, high-speed bearings and high-performance tools have been commercialized, used in internal combustion engine can make the working temperature up to 1400℃, greatly improve the efficiency of heat engine, suitable for a variety of fuels, prolong the service life; In addition, it can also be used as a rocket's heat insulation tile and stealth protection layer.